Tag: Dirk Bakker

Briefing: Hospitality leadership is more than revenue management

Posted on by Guy Lean

A survey published in the Harvard Business Review has revealed that the top two leadership qualities, as rated by global leaders, are having ‘high ethical and moral standards’ and ‘providing goals and objectives with loose guidelines/direction’. In hospitality, leaders at hotel management level and brand executive level have different but equally important roles to play in the success of a business.

In these videos industry experts discuss the importance of good leadership in hospitality:

In 2016, 89% of companies see leadership as an important or very important issue (up from 87% in 2015). That is according to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends 2016.

As a business or industry develops leaders must be able to change and learn. This was reflected in the number four choice in the HBR survey; having ‘the flexibility to change opinion’.

One report that focused on leadership in a world of change is IBMs Global C-suite Study. This found that today’s CEOs say technology is the chief external influence on their enterprises. They think that user-based mobile solutions and cloud computing will be big drivers of change. 82% of the CEOs surveyed expect to engage more digitally over the next 3 to 5 years.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: How the world is adapting to the sharing economy

Posted on by Guy Lean

Airbnb has met a need on both the consumer and host side of its business model. It is up to date with the latest technology, and has even recently created an app for the Apple Watch. But regulation of this, and similar sharing economy business, has been an ongoing discussion. A trade body for sharing of economy businesses was started in the UK last year, and in January the New South Wales government in Australia, announced plans for a new regulatory framework for businesses like Airbnb.

In these videos an Airbnb executive and three hospitality experts discuss the success and future of Airbnb:

Tourism Accommodation Australia has announced strong support for new regulations to be created in New South Wales. They have emphasised that the, “’Collaborative’ economy must be about ‘contributing’ to the economy.” Airbnb offers 15,000 listings in New South Wales.

In the UK, according to Airbnb, 52,500 hosts shared their homes in the past year. The typical host earned £2,000 by sharing their homes for 46 nights a year.

Last year in the UK a law was passed making it easier for people to share homes. Also in March 2015, the trade body, Sharing Economy UK was launched following the recommendation of the Wosskow 7 Report, a Government-commissioned independent review.  SEUK has a code of conduct that members must sign up to, which according to the website, “was designed to enhance the operation, image and reputation of the sharing economy industry.”

A recent report on the SEUK website highlights statistics that show the growth of the sharing economy in the UK:

  • The number of businesses with no employees has risen by more than 70% since 2000.
  • 3% of the UK workforce is providing a service through a sharing economy platform.
  • A quarter of the UK population has engaged in a sharing economy activity.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Convenience now key to customer loyalty

Posted on by Guy Lean

According to research from J.D. Power, 41% of loyalty members chose a program that was most convenient for the locations they travel to. The report also found that satisfaction with loyalty programs is highest among Gen Y members. However, in a separate survey Software Advice found that only 14% of Gen Y (18-34 year olds) participate in a hotel loyalty program. The industry is now finding new ways to define and encourage loyalty.

In these videos experts discuss how loyalty fits it into hospitality today:

Digital disruption has meant that loyalty is now lacking across many industries, not just hospitality. According to Accenture we now live in a “switching economy” that accounts for an estimated $6.2 trillion in revenue opportunity for providers across 17 key markets today.

Loyalty programs are still popular where the purchase is part of everyday routine i.e grocery shopping. Rewards that can be used routinely are also more popular. According to an Excentus consumer survey 37% of consumers prefer fuel saving rewards. Whereas only 17% prefer Airline miles and 14% prefer hotel points.

Staff communication is still driving much of loyalty participation in hotels. The J.D. Power 2015 Hotel Loyalty/Rewards Program Satisfaction Report found that 41% of members learned of their rewards program from a hotel employee during check-in/check-out.

Software Advice’s survey found that 51% of millennials who do participate in loyalty programs use their rewards on free or discounted stays. 51% said they would find a loyalty app useful, although 49% of respondents say they prefer to learn about their loyalty points via email.

The Switchfly Hotel Reward Payback Survey conducted by IdeaWorksCompany looked at “rewards payback”, reward value returned for every dollar spent on hotel rates. It looked at Starwood SPG, IHG Rewards, Hilton Hhonors and Marriott Rewards and found that Marriott Rewards had the highest average rewards payback at 9.4%. Value did vary depending on location and dates of the stay, and the highest payback result found in the survey was 24% for a stay in Hilton Beijing in February.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Unique experiences engage guests

Posted on by Guy Lean

According to research by Gallup, luxury brands have the highest customer engagement level of all hotel segments, with 33% of luxury guests being fully engaged in a brand.

In the luxury/high end market, excellent service and memorable experiences are more important to guests than getting a bargain, so the potential for brand loyalty is higher. But it is becoming more and more difficult for hotels to offer a truly unique experience and keep up with what guests want.

In these videos industry experts discuss how they are attracting guests:

Engagement is important because, according to Gallup; ‘Hotel guests who are fully engaged spend 46% more per year than actively disengaged guests.’ If guests are engaged and returning to the same brand or property time and again, then these guests must be recognised and valued, as discussed above by Dan Wakeling. Gallup’s 2014 Hospitality Industry study found that ‘79% of guests who strongly agree that the hotel they visit most frequently takes care of their well-being, are fully engaged,’

Those who are willing to pay more for a high end stay have more requirements on their minds than a king size bed. Research by Booking.com found that sustainability is increasingly sought after and that ‘sustainable travellers’ were 50% more likely to intend to book more luxury accommodations in 2015 than they did in 2014, as compared with other traveller types.

The way that people engage with brands has changed. So how can one hotel make itself stand out over another?

The Zighy Bay Resort in Oman gives guests the option to paraglide into the resort on arrival.

In Sweden guests can stay in an Ice Hotel.

Some hotels and restaurants are epitomising ‘luxury’ by offering diamonds as part of their package.

And, as mentioned in the above video, Club Med offers a Cirque du Soleil experience.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by ybc.tv for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: The real estate perspective

Posted on by Guy Lean

A survey by Berwin Leighton Paisner earlier this year found that, 70% of hotel professionals believe hotels will continue to outperform “traditional” commercial property investments.

A separate survey by PwC ranked hotels number 6 for investment prospects in a list of 20 real estate sectors. 62% of respondents to the survey said hotels had either good or very good prospects. Serviced Apartments came at number 9 with 59% of respondents saying the prospects were good.

This briefing features professionals from the hospitality industry whose focus is on investment and ownership:

The Emerging Trends in Real Estate Report from PwC showed that London was the most active European real estate market in 2014. A global ranking showed New York was the top city for commercial property investment in 2014 with a sales volume of $57,012, and London was second with $42,889.

The report also highlighted issues and concerns in the real estate industry. 47% of property professionals said a ‘shortage of suitable assets to acquire’ was a significant issue impacting real estate business. 78% of European respondents and 80% of US respondents said ‘demographics and social change’ would have an impact on business decisions in the coming years.

In the US, real estate business prospects for multifamily developers were rated as good (3.9 out of 5). Business prospects for real estate brokers where rated at 3.91 out of 5, and private local real estate owners had prospects of 3.86 out of 5. Prospects across all business sectors listed showed an improvement on the previous year.

Within the hospitality industry, BLP’s European Hotel Market Survey 2015, found that; 80% of hotel professionals say hotels are becoming more of a valued asset class for investors, but are still perceived by many as risky. In the survey, 89% of respondents foresaw increased competition from the residential market with short term lets.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do so here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by yBC for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Understanding brand power in a new landscape

Posted on by Guy Lean

What does it mean to be a hospitality brand in 2015? Travellers today will not be as influenced by a brand name as they once were when booking accommodation. According to Mintel Group, 48% of guests will not visit the hotel’s website before arrival, and 79% see price as a key factor when choosing a hotel. However strong brands in the industry are still growing.

These videos look at the way new brands are developing, how powerful brands are staying relevant, and what might happen with brands in the future:

In todays’ hospitality landscape technology has changed distribution forever, given independents more power and has sparked the emergence of new brands.

There is some debate over the possible consolidation of brands in the future as discussed in the above videos.  At the moment more and more brands are being created, often within existing brands, to serve new markets.

In other industries the power of the brand is still immensely strong particularly in the technology industry. Apple currently tops Forbes list of The World’s most Valuable Brands, with a brand value of $145.3 Billion. Microsoft, Google and Coca-Cola and IBM make up the rest of the top 5.

The MKG group’s Hospitality database shows that in January 2015, IGH was the top ranked Hotel Brand. It had 710 295 rooms and a growth of 3.4% on 2014. Hilton and Marriot were ranked 2nd and 3rd and showed growth of 5.4% and 5.9% respectively.

A survey from BDRC found that 42% of European leisure travellers rate review sites as important when selecting a hotel for leisure. In comparison 36% rate hotel brands and important. BDRC also found that leading brands can still command a higher price than unknown brands, with an uplift of €26.98 in the luxury market.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do so here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by yBC for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

Briefing: Reviews & credibility – Websites strive to build trust

Posted on by Guy Lean

Online reviews continue to influence customer decisions. Data from Deloitte shows that 81% of general consumers read reviews and check ratings. In the hospitality industry these reviews are being published on different social media sites, direct on hotel and booking sites, and are frequently being written on mobiles and on mobile apps. Knowing that fake reviews are possible, trust between companies and consumers is becoming increasingly important.

In this briefing four experts discuss credibility and making the most of reviews.

According to Deloitte 42% of holiday makers use review sites. But companies are also looking for ways to show reviews on direct platforms. As discussed in the above videos, Choice Hotels is verifying reviews that are posted on its website, and TrustYou is a company offering tools and solutions for Travel and Tourism companies to display credible reviews to customers. Expedia is also taking step to ensure only true customers can leave reviews, whilst also displaying TripAdvisor posts alongside these.

Foursquare is a mobile app and review site for food, drink, activities and shopping, on which comments are always linked to specific locations. The site has more than 55 million users worldwide who have ‘checked in’ to locations over seven billion times. Business can ‘claim’ their locations in order to interact with the customers who are posting on the site. Two million businesses have done this so far. Research shows that connecting with customers who are leaving reviews can have a positive impact on business.

One review site that covers all industries is Yelp. In the first quarter of 2015 more than 50% of Yelp content (reviews and photos) was generated on mobile devices and 65% of searches came from mobile devices. Interestingly in the first quarter of 2015 there were many more positive reviews posted than negative ones with 42% of reviews giving a 5 star rating, 25% giving 4 stars and only 14% of reviews giving 1 star.

Validity and trust is of course important to the success of review sites themselves. Yelp has a review filter which it says helps to spot fake reviews. It has taken legal action against people trying to buy and sell reviews and has recently filed a lawsuit against a company which falsely said it could remove negative reviews form the site.  Yelp is not the only company taking this kind of action. Amazon too has recently taken out a lawsuit over fake reviews.

If you’ve been sent to this page and you’re not yet on the circulation list to receive these regular briefings and you would like to sign up, you can do see here. It’s free.

Video clips produced by yBC for the Hospitality Channel, including interview from industry conferences such as the IHIF conference as well as specific Hospitality Channel shoots.

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